Claiming our Riches in Christ: The Book of Colossians


03/02/2003 - Alive with Christ



Do you remember the day you came alive spiritually?

  • Do you remember a time in your life when the lights came on ... a time when you felt like you had just emerged from some kind of a spiritual coma and you were truly alive after years of barely existing ...
  • Maybe it wasn't a specific day ... maybe it was a particular season of your life ... perhaps a series of events ... whatever the circumstances might have been, you know that your life has never been the same ... you had an experience with Christ that breathed new life into your meager existence ...
  • Some of you are already thinking about that time ... you think about it often and it always fills you with joy ...
  • Some of you haven't thought about that experience in a long time ... maybe you're feeling so spiritually dead right now that you wonder if maybe it never happened ...
  • Still others of you don't have a clue what I am talking about ... you've never experienced a time in your life when you felt God made you alive ...

But that is what Paul is reminding the believers in Colossae when he writes these words to them in Colossians 2:13 ...

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.

We have seen teenagers come alive with Christ at Young Life camps ...

  • In the past we have shared with you about those moments in a cabin time when a high school student exclaims with wide eyes, "I get it! I finally get it!  Jesus died for me!"  In that moment God made them alive with Christ ...

  • I witnessed the "lights coming on" in two guys in my cabin over this past winter weekend ... one was a sophomore and the other a freshman ...

  • The sophomore guy came with us on the weekend last year and had a great time but didn't seem too excited about the teachings or discussions concerning Christ.  This year was very different ... during our cabin times he was noticeably engaged in what other guys were sharing. He is a quiet guy by nature but when his turn came to share he was uncharacteristically animated. A couple of weeks after the weekend we had a chance to talk to his mother who expressed absolute amazement at the change she was witnessing in her son.  She told us that she saw him "reading that book" we gave him (a New Testament).  She said to us, "you don't understand how significant that is ... he never reads anything ... he is not a reader." 

  • The other teen was a freshman ... he is very outgoing and easily distracted ... he was riveted during the teaching times and could hardly wait to share at cabin times ... at our first follow-up meeting after the Winter Weekend we asked the group what we could do to encourage them in their walk with Christ ... he was the first to answer without hesitation, "we need to do this (referring to our meeting) every night of the week!"  A couple of weeks later his mother said to us, "what have you done to my son? I can't believe my son asking for prayers and wanting to go to a gathering to sing and talk about the Bible!"

  • God had made them alive with Christ ...

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.

When did this happen?  When will this happen to me?  At the moment of faith in Christ ...

Colossians 1:3-4  3We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ and of the love you have for all the saints ...

This is the very heart of the gospel ... faith, belief, trust ... these are very "religious" words, unfortunately ... they've taken on a very mystical quality to the extent that we are hesitant to define them ...

I'd like to help us understand that "moment of faith" by using a television show that 45 million Americans watched two Monday nights ago ... Joe Millionaire ...

If you happened to miss this entertainment phenomena, it was another of an endless offering of "reality TV" shows ... only this one had a deceptive twist ... 20 single women were flown to a chateau in France to meet Evan, who was supposedly worth 50 million dollars ... what made the show so appealing, at least to those of us who delight in deception, was that Evan was in fact a heavy equipment operator who made less than $19,000 a year ... all of the women clamored over each other trying to make an impression on Evan except one ... Zora ... she didn't seem all that impressed with the money and it seemed to us faithful viewers that she didn't trust Evan ... she seemed to be on to him ...

Everyone was amazed when, after all the other women were eliminated, Evan told Zora that he had chosen her ... when he went on to tell her that he didn't have 50 million dollars her face dropped ...

That night in the ballroom, Evan stood waiting to see if Zora would even show up let alone accept his offer to pursue a relationship with him ... when she did show up she grimly described how she had felt deceived by him ... but then she went on to say that she was never comfortable with the money ... her face broke into a smile and she accepted his offer ... now that the truth was out and she finally trusted Evan ... that was a moment ...

I realize that it was just another TV show and I know their relationship never went anywhere, but I'll bet there was something in that moment that you could relate to ... something that reminded you of a relationship where you kept your distance for fear of being hurt or betrayed and then you came to the point when you looked into the face of that other person and you finally realized ... "I trust you" ...

Relate that to our relationship with Jesus Christ ... we've heard a lot of things about him ... some good ... some bad ... some from people who adore him and some from people who despise him ... we heard that he expressed his love to us by willingly giving up his life for us on a cruel cross and for a long time that seemed like just another religious story ... until the day that the story penetrated our self-protective outer layer and got into the soft, secret places of our soul and it dawned on us ... "I believe You, Jesus ... I trust You" ...

That is the moment "God made you alive in Christ" ... you didn't have to say a prayer ... you didn't have to walk forward in an evangelistic meeting ... you didn't have to join a church or sign a form ... you just believed in Him - that everything He did for you was true and you accepted His offer and entered into a relationship with the Son of God.

If you have never experienced that moment, I want you to really pay close attention this morning because I believe that by the end of this teaching you will see that Jesus is worthy of your trust ... you can experience that "coming alive" that Paul is talking about ...

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.

There are a couple of phrases in this verse that may be a bit difficult for us to understand ...

  • dead in your sins
  • theuncircumcision of your sinful nature

First let's look at this phrase dead in your sins ... when I was growing up in the church, it seemed to me that the words "sin" and "sinner" were always accompanied by adjectives like "dirty" and "rotten" and an accusing, finger-pointing tone ... the Bible does not use the word that way ...

The word "sin" was used most commonly in archery ... it described an arrow that had "missed the mark" or "fallen short of the mark" ... Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ... there is no such thing as falling "less short" or "more short" ... it is not a graded scale like A, B, C, D or F, it is rather a pass/fail situation ... compared to the perfection of God, we all have "fallen short."

I've been reading a book by Eugene Peterson called The Contemplative Pastor ... listen to what he says about the word sin and understanding ourselves as sinners:

"The word sinner ... is not a moralistic judgmental.  It is not a word that places humans somewhere along a continuum ranging from angel to ape, assessing them as relatively "good" or "bad."   It designates humans in relation to God and sees them separated from God.  Sinner means something is awry between humans and God. In that state people may be wicked, unhappy, anxious, and poor. Or, they may be virtuous, happy, and affluent. Those items are not part of the judgment ... to see a person as a sinner, then, is not to see him or her as hypocritical, disgusting, or evil. Most sinners are very nice people. To call a man a sinner is not a blast at his manners or his morals. It is a theological belief that the thing that matters most to him is forgiveness and grace."

"When you were dead in your sins ... God made you alive." ... Death in the Bible is always separation ... physical death means the soul is separated from the body ... spiritual death means separation from God ... our sins separated us from God ... God saw us in this predicament and sent His Son, Jesus, to make us alive ...

Here's where it gets dicey ... Paul says you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature ... why do I always get the delicate topics? The last time I taught I drew the short straw in the Ten Commandments series and taught on adultery ... now I'm looking at circumcision ... just like then, there is a wealth of understanding about God behind this delicate issue ... in the picture of circumcision we learn a critical truth about our forgiveness ...

I am confident that we all have an understanding of this procedure called circumcision.  "Circumcision" means to "cut around."  Just about every hospital maternity ward in America performs circumcision on every male baby born.  It is the surgical removal of the foreskin from around the end of the male organ.

For whatever reason we are hesitant to ponder such procedures especially in church, but in the time of Paul's writing, people were far more open to considering circumcision ... in fact, circumcision delineated Jewish men from Gentile men ... Jews were called "the circumcised" ... Gentiles were called "the uncircumcised" ... Paul took this commonly understood procedure and used it to illustrate a spiritual truth ... look back at verse 11 ...

11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ ...

Then he goes on to say in the verse we've been looking at ... When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.

So think of it this way ... you were separated from God because your sinful nature was still attached to you ... but God separated the sinful nature from you ... God circumcised you ... He "put off" the sinful nature ... now you are alive with Christ ... if death is separation then life is relationship ... He united us with Christ ... He joined us to Christ ... we are now in a trusting relationship with Jesus ...  

Paul goes on to use another picture of our forgiveness ... this time he uses a scene from the legal system of his day ...

He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Paul was painfully familiar with the legal system of his day.  He had endured many courtroom settings, many trials, many imprisonments. In fact, Paul was writing this letter while incarcerated in Rome ...

According to Roman law a man could not be brought to trial until witnesses had signed an indictment charging him with a specific crime.  A charge of treason had been laid against Paul. Witnesses signed the indictment and agreed to appear before the Roman court in Caesarea.  When Paul appealed to Caesar he and the indictment were transferred to Rome. 

Wherever a prisoner went the signed indictment went with him ... if he went to jail, this record was nailed to the door of his cell so that anyone passing by could read the charges against him ... in the case of a capital crime punishable by death the indictment was posted at the place of the execution. Remember the charges of Jesus posted over his head, "This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews."

After a prisoner had served his term he would take that indictment to the judge and the judge would write across it that he had fulfilled his obligation.  Then the man would take that indictment to his home and nail it to his front gate so if any soldier passed by and questioned why he was not in prison he could read the canceled indictment.

Paul is saying that we had a written code against us ... the Old Testament law, with all its regulations ... we were guilty of breaking that law ... we carried an indictment around wherever we went ... Jesus took it away ... the demonic powers and authorities shouted "Objection! You can't just take the indictment away.  There is a death penalty to be paid!" ... Jesus made a public spectacle of our accusers by nailing our indictment to the cross and then dying on that cross to fulfill its demands ... just before he died he exclaimed "It is finished ... the charges on the indictment are paid in full!" ...

He forgave us all our sins ... Has there ever been a more profound expression of love? What is our response?  Do we trust him?  The moment we do we are no longer dead in our sins ... God makes us alive with Christ ...

Christianity is a relationship ... Jesus plus nothing ...

Christianity is not a religion ... Jesus plus something ...

After Paul pours out his heart reminding the Colossians of the incredible truth of the simple gospel message, he catches his breath, and lovingly warns them against those who would love to take it away from them ... the religious zealots ... Paul warns us against three kinds of religious zealots ... the religious legalists, the religious mystics, and the religious ascetics ...

Don't let the religious legalists take it away from you ...

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 

The religious legalists of Paul's day were Jewish ... they would tip their hats to the death of Christ but then explain to the believers in Colossae that if they really wanted to please God they needed to put themselves under the Mosaic Law.

Paul reminds them that a shadow is cast by a reality.  The Law is the shadow that was meant to lead people to the reality, which is Christ.

The Jewish religion is not the only legalistic religion.  I grew up in a legalistic religion that added requirements necessary to please God ... "don't drink, don't smoke, don't chew, or go with girls that do" ... don't dance, don't play cards, don't go to movies or the theater, men don't have long hair, women don't have short hair, or wear make up, or slacks ... if you do, then you are no longer pleasing God ...

Paul says don't let anyone judge you by these laws ... God made you alive with Christ ... Jesus is the reality ... these laws are just a shadow ... there is nothing to add to Jesus ...

Don't let the religious mystics take it away from you ...

18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19 He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

There are other religious zealots who will tell you now that you are alive with Christ, you need to add to that certain supernatural experiences ... Paul says they delight in false humility and the worship of angels and they are puffed up with the idle notion that they have seen visions ...

There are those in the Christian church today who will tell you that until you have seen a vision, until you have spoken in tongues, until you have received a word of knowledge or a word of prophecy, you are still lacking something in your relationship with Christ.  This is not true ...

At Valley View, we believe in the existence of all the spiritual gifts ... some are far more dramatic than others, more impressive than others ... the Bible teaches that we all have a different gift mix ...

For whatever reason known only to God, I have never received the gift of tongues - the supernatural ability to speak in another language that you have never learned ... it would have come in handy when I was in Culiacan two years ago and Isaias decided he was going to stop speaking English with me ...

For a long time I didn't believe the gift of tongues existed ... when I realized it did, I worried that I was missing out on something ... I have asked God for the gift ... I have gone forward in meetings to receive the gift ... I have been prayed over ...had hands laid on me ... nothing ... I have a good friend who is a Pentecostal pastor who has said, "Don't worry about it, Tim, if God wanted you to have the gift of tongues He would have given it to you."

God made you alive with Christ ... he is the head of the church ... stay connected to the Head ...

Don't let the religious ascetics take it away from you ...

20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:  21 "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"?  22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings.  23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. 

The early believers loved hanging out together.  They loved to eat together.  They enjoyed one another.  Paul commented about the Colossians, "You guys really love each other" ... the joy of the Lord was obvious in their gatherings ...

The religious ascetics came along and said "whoa, just a minute, you people are having way too much fun ... if you are serious about following Christ you need to deny yourselves ... all matter is evil ... no eating, no touching, no fun, it will only lead to sensual indulgence ...

This brand of religion arises out of guilt ... but Christ has taken away all human guilt ... you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world ... you are separate from them ...

13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins ...

Christianity is not about religion ... it is about a relationship ... a trusting relationship with Jesus Christ ... nothing else ...

Can you see that?  Do you trust Him?  Have you ever responded to his amazing expression of love to you?